Crossword Genius

Guards say it's governed in a repressive way (6,5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

police state

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'governed in a repressive way' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.

'guards say' is the wordplay.
'guards' becomes 'polices' (policing is a kind of guarding).
'say' becomes 'tate' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'polices'+'tate'='POLICE STATE'

'it's' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for police state that I've seen before include "Big Brother society" , "Regime monitoring citizens" , "East Germany once" , "Oceania perhaps" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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